▶ PLAYER
HANDLE: kiva
CONTACT: obscureinternetreference @ plurk
OVER 18? yes!
CHARACTERS IN-GAME: gwendolyn@royaliability

▶ CHARACTER
NAME: Nobunaga Oda
CANON: Fate/Grand Order
CANON POINT: During summer 3, after she's dealt with MHXX for the protagonist but before it ends.
AGE: Physically in her 20s/Mentally in her 50s/Technically 485 going by our current year
BACKGROUND:
Nobunaga's an almost direct mirror to the Nobunaga from real life history; she started out as a delinquent with no prospects, ended up having to take charge of her clan to fend off invaders, found she was seriously talented at waging war and ended up unifying (almost) all of Japan before the betrayal at Honnoji that ended her campaign.

But there are some differences in the fate/ universe, the first and most obvious being that she's a woman. The second Guda Guda event reveals that this didn't sit well with her relatives, as many found her father choosing a woman as the successor was pretty much an insult given, well, sexism. This invited a second change from real life history: her younger brother Nobukatsu lead a rebellion against her twice in an attempted coup, gaining the support of all of the Oda relatives who had beef with her taking charge. The real life Nobunaga's brother was motivated by several factors (their mother urged him on, while he himself desired the position) while the Fate/ version did so in order to help bring all of the relatives scheming against her out into the open, all so she could exterminate them. Unfortunately she never realised this while she was alive and, while she pardoned him for his first rebellion, was outraged after the second attempt and had him executed.

Aside from these details however, she lead the same bloody conquest in the name of unification her male self did. After her death at Honnoji following Mitsuhide's betrayal, she was recorded in the throne of heroes as a servant available to summon by those who possessed the means. Although summoned to the world of Grand Order to assist Chaldea in their battle against those who threaten Earth, she was also summoned to a more standard grail war before this; we don't know the details exactly, but Okita references the fact they first met "in the capital" in her my room line (a reference to the strange tales manga the pair originate from) which hints it was pretty much the same situation but with a different outcome where Nobunaga simply blew the grail up once she obtained it, with the resulting explosion sending both her and Okita to Chaldea in the aftermath.

The first guda guda event involves their sudden, unexpected arrival, which also brought with it an army of tiny Nobunagas that scattered all across history and caused havoc, with Nobunaga reluctantly agreeing to help. She shows up during the garden of order and magical girl event, but in both instances she's merely cameoing to complain she hasn't shown up more often. The second guda guda event introduces both her brother and Hijikata Toshirou as antagonists, the former of which wants to create a timeless world where he and Nobunaga can forget all about the past and live together forever, while the latter's single minded lust to continue fighting keeps the alternate history meiji period going that won't disappear until he's defeated, so she assists in defeating both of them. The summer event dead heat race sees her teaming up with mysterious heroine X in order to compete in a race for the holy grail, hoping to use her victory as publicity to kickstart her music career. The final guda guda event involves Mitsuhide Akechi's return, creating a false grail war in the hopes he can use the resulting grail to create his own Nobunaga that will exist only for him while revealing his twisted obsession with her while he was alive was what drove him to kill her. She essentially berates him for having a half decent plan up until he was relying on her again through creating a clone of her, then helps beat him once and for all. After this, she makes a brief cameo during the third summer event as mysterious heroine XX is causing trouble, with the protagonist and her allied servants deciding that it takes a weirdo to negotiate with a weirdo, prompting them to ask Nobunaga to talk her out of it, which she succeeds at.

PERSONALITY:

There are two, important sides to Nobunaga's personality; you can't accept one without the other, as much as both seem to conflict with each other.

So, let's get the most important part out of the way: Nobunaga's a fool. Not an idiot though. As she herself would insist, an idiot is someone incompetent while a fool is simply someone having a good time. For a long time, many of Nobunaga's appearances from in-game events and her personal lines with the protagonist gave off this impression. She wasn't the cold, distant and cruel demon king who'd slaughtered all of these people in the past. She was a loud, cheerful and boisterous person, fond of socializing, drinking and...offering the protagonist the chance to "spend the night together" at least twice, going by both of her servant versions. The fact is, Nobunaga Oda as a servant can be a hedonist; she shows no regret for what's happened in the past, from the actions she committed to the betrayals committed against her, focusing instead on her life as a servant as if it were some kind of extended vacation. Despite the fact Chaldea's dedicated to stopping human history from collapsing, you'd rarely see much in the way of urgency or seriousness from her whenever she shows up. The fact is, as she is now, Nobunaga likes to take it easy and not sweat the small stuff.

However, while this is how she is now, the truth is that all of the stories about Nobunaga Oda's bloody conquest are true, applying to the servant version too. In her earlier days as a fledgling warlord, diplomacy and schemes were key tactics she employed in order to rise to power. As she got older and grew to be one of the major powers in Japan, she became far more fond of the more efficient method of crushing everyone who opposed her in a show of force. Most often this resulted in burning down everything in her way: prisoners were executed (even after Mitsuhide had promised they'd been spared, leading to the death of his mother due to the betrayal that was no fault of his own) civilians were burned alive (as the Ikko-Ikki had barricaded themselves inside their complex, so it was simply an easier way to get rid of them) and even the sacred temples of the Buddhist monks that opposed her not only had everyone living there killed (including innocent men, women and children) but the entire grounds burned to ash. By all accounts from many of Nobunaga Oda's supporters, the man was short tempered, cruel and had little empathy for people who opposed his path to conquest. This Nobunaga is no different.

So how can she be both an easygoing, sociable hedonist yet retain the parts of her that made her one of the most renowned warlords in Japanese history? Simply put, it's all about balance; she's her more carefree self about 80% of the time, but when Nobukatsu, Hijikata and Mitsuhide were causing trouble during their respective guda guda events, she showed that serious side of her beyond all the joking around and undid their schemes, or simply cut them down, fairly handily. Between figuring out the nature of the fake singularity created by a surviving demon pillar during the second event, successfully working out that Hijikata was the true antagonist of that very same event despite Nobukatsu and the demon pillar being the ones causing all of the trouble directly, as well as working out a process to summon herself to the third guda guda event's location by inhabiting Nobukatsu's body (due to having her own stolen for a fake version of herself) there are times when Nobunaga reminds reaffirms her identity just as people begin to doubt it due to how often she plays around. When she does, you're better off not being the one who's forced her hand.

However, make no mistake: Nobunaga really does care. She unified Japan because she cared, she assists the protagonist because she cares and according to Chacha, her niece, Nobunaga has a soft spot for her family (which is why Nobukatsu was able to lead two whole rebellions before being executed.) It's rare Nobunaga tries to be too genuine, but it's best illustrated during Nobukatsu's departure during the end of the second guda guda event; he says he'll "leave the rest up to (her)" before fading away, with Nobunaga calling him an idiot and asking herself "what kind of person says the same parting words twice?". In the original japanese script, she's almost solemn as she says it, with a somewhat fond smile on her face, a far cry from the loud and boisterous warlord we were shown up to now. Chacha also mentions that she and her mother Oichi (Nobunaga's sister) were often spoiled by Nobunaga whenever they were spending time with her, especially in the form of endless amounts of good food. While she's simply not the kind of woman who (usually) says how she feels, she's simply more comfortable showing it through her actions instead.

POWERS/ABILITIES:

Servant biology: Basically, she's a super powered anime ghost. Her body's physical, but made out of magic with a spiritual core that essentially functions similarly to a heart. All this really means is that when killed she won't leave behind a corpse and she's got superhuman physical parameters far beyond that of a normal human. In archer class, she has lower strength and speed, but higher endurance and won't be much of a strain on her mana reserves or Master. In Berserker class, her strength and endurance go up, her speed goes down and she's a bit more intensive on whatever source of mana she's got.

As Nobunaga can swap between her Archer and Berserker classes, I'll be dividing her abilities up between both in this app just to make it clear what she can do in either one. She only has access to the skills of the class she's currently in, so she won't be able to mix and match her abilities across classes in combat.

So, starting with Archer:

Three thousand worlds: The first noble phantasm of Nobunaga Oda, which allows her to summon and remotely control three thousand matchlock rifles. They're individually pretty weak (conditionally) but they barely cost her any energy to use and can be summoned all around her freely. They also do extra damage against mounted enemies.

Papiyas, the demon king of the sixth heaven: The true noble phantasm of Nobunaga Oda. When activated, it summons her (and everyone targeted by it) to Hell itself...kind of. It's actually the fire at Mt.Hiei, overflowing with both the fear and reverence people had for her while she was alive. Simply put, both Nobunaga and her enemies are temporarily transported to an alternate space resembling the scene above, where the flames conceptually attack anything inside of it depending on 1) the divinity and 2) the supernatural elements the targets being affected have. It's...honestly kind of complicated and goes by a case by case basis, so essentially if I were to use it in a thread I'd just hash out with the other person how badly it would affect that character based on their own origin/powers/etc and have it function accordingly. However! Because Nobunaga died surrounded by flames, the flames of her noble phantasm also injure her while she's inside of it. During the third guda guda event, she shows she can use it up to two times in quick succession before being too tired to use it a third, so while the damage isn't too bad it's something she can't just keep using over and over. Also if she is low on energy/chroma, she won't be able to use it at all; in fact, if she uses it for too long and runs out of energy, it'll end prematurely unable to sustain itself. It's more of a last resort than something she'd just throw around whenever.

Tenka Fubu: One of Nobunaga's personal skills; it essentially has the a similar effect as Papiyas above, except it buffs Nobunaga accordingly depending on the divinity/supernatural elements her opponent has while she's fighting. While her rifles are all individually weak, against someone with high divinity and supernatural enemies, they fire powerful beams of red energy rather than simple bullets when buffed by this skill. It also bestows upon her high resistance against attacks or abilities of a divine/supernatural origin, as well as making her stronger/faster/more durable/etc against opponents with similar origins. Basically, while that's the gist of it, it's again something I'll just hash out with people beforehand if they fight her.

Strategy: An evolution of the military tactics skill combined with the charisma skill; charisma essentially buffs everyone fighting alongside her, as long as she recognises them as an ally. The military tactics part of this skill allows her to "seize things in the broader perspective, such as diplomacy and logistics, in order to decide victory before the fighting even begun"; basically, she's able to make the best possible decisions when it comes to battle preparation, be they large scale wars or small scale skirmishes. It doesn't guarantee victory, but it will allow her to enter fights with the best possible advantage she could have so long as she takes the required preparations beforehand.

Demon King: A skill that usually manifests as "innocent monster", changing a servant's appearance based on public opinion, but because when everyone started calling her Buddhist satan she embraced it willingly, she gets the benefits without the demerits and can activate or deactivate it at will...essentially, it lets her change her appearance. Kind of like shapeshifting!

Magic resistance: An archer class skill that gives her a...resistance to magic. Hers is rank B, so it's quite strong, but is buffed appropriately by Tenka Fubu when that skill is in effect.

Independent Action: An archer class skill that lets her body regulate her mana useage. While normally servants can't survive for long without a Master, Nobunaga can survive for two whole days without one.

And then Berserker

HESHI-KILL HASEBE: An altered state of Nobunaga's sword she always carries with her, heshikiri hasebe. In her Berserker state, the sword becomes her primary weapon and changes into an electric guitar, with a turntable at the end, decorated with red bones. The primary function of the guitar is simply as a blunt weapon; for a lot of her attacks, she simply swings it around (it's quite large and heavy) to beat people with it. However, by extending the bones on the turntable and causing it to spin rapidly, it can function much like a buzzsaw and gain tremendous cutting ability.

Nobunaga: THE Rock 'n' Roll: The true noble phantasm of Nobunaga Oda...with a twist. This is Nobunaga making use of Papiyas, but rather than unleashing it as a full blown reality marble, she enters a limited release state where the flames manifest but are suppressed. As long as it's activated (and it can't be willingly deactivated in this state) she can call on the flames of her reality marble while she attacks, wrapping her weapon or even her own body in them. Much like her Archer variation, the flames afford her a tremendous advantage against the divine and supernatural. However, despite being a limited release of her power, the flames can still hurt her; she has to periodically release the buildup of flames inside of her or else they start to damage her from within. She passes this off as not being a big deal by yelling things like ROCK AND ROLL and acting as if the outburst of flames is just to look cool, but if for whatever reason she couldn't it would be dangerous for her.

Another use of this noble phantasm allows her to call on a gashadokuro; it's essentially a large red skeleton (the rib cage is roughly one and a half times her height alone) consisting of the skull, ribcage and hands (no arms, as they float around independently). She can order it to attack and defend, usually by playing her guitar, but it's been shown she can manipulate it without that during her extra attack by instead directing it with her own hands. She is also capable of coating it in the flames of Papiyas when it attacks, granting it the same advantage it does her.

Mad enhancement: A class skill of berserkers; because Nobunaga is already a weirdo, it's stated the resulting madness hasn't affected her personality much, so she receives a boost in paramters without affecting her behaviour drastically. According to her though, she says she feels a lot wilder than usual.

Foolish murder style: A skill whose sole purpose is to grant her proficiency in close combat with her weapon, despite it being so unusual and unwieldy.

Atsumori beat: The flavour text of this skill...doesn't explain anything. In-game, it allows her to give her allies a small health regen, alongside NP and star GEN, which outside of game mechanics is also nothing. Because the health recovery it gives in-game is negligible, I'm going to say when she plays her guitar using this skill it'll promote recovery from injuries and be fairly useful as support for an actual healer, but be pretty ineffective by itself. She's DPS after all.

Demon King (Beach): Basically the same as the Archer version. She claims it's why her figure's more impressive for summer compared to her Archer version.


INVENTORY:
Nobunaga has her sword, her outfits, her guns and Heshikill, but they're all bound to her spirit origin which means they manifest from inside of her rather than being something she has to physically carry with her.

MOONBLESSING:
Sanguis

▶ SAMPLES

link #1
link #2

Inbox

video ⬤ audio ⬤ text ⬤ delivery

Nobunaga Oda ⬤ Fate/Grand Order
residential district ⬤ text
moonblessing ⬤ sanguis

info ⬤ permissions ⬤ overflow

Navigation page courtesy of bannertech!
layout @ tofuhouse
Reference for the real world Nobunaga's history taken from right here.

1534 - 1559

Born the first daughter, second child of Oda Nobuhide. At the time of her birth, not only was her father engaged with the samurai of Mikawa and Mino, but had enemies on the homefront as well, as the Oda clan were divided in two and vying for control of Owari's eight districts. Following the conflict between the Oda, the Matsudaira and Imagawa clan, a party accompanying the Matsudaira's six year old heir was intercepted by Oda loyalists, allowing Nobuhide to capture him as a hostage. Although he threatened to harm the boy unless Okazaki was given up in exchange for his life, his father refused and it was revealed to be a bluff, leaving the child, Takechiyo, unharmed (who grew up to be Tokugawa Ieyasu).

The Oda and Imagawa clan clashed later in 1548, with the Imagawa victorious, and no more than a year later Nobuhide perished. Imagawa capitalized on the death of his enemy and immediately laid siege against Anjo castle to take Nobuhiro hostage - Nobunaga then received word of her elder brother's predicament, and she could either return the young Takechiyo or have her elder brother forced to commit suicide. She ended up returning the child, sparing her brother's life.

When she was younger, Nobunaga was said to be a rude, brash woman whose behaviour borderlined on the disgraceful. It's said that she even acted out during her own father's funeral showing him very little respect. It was only through the actions of her retainer Hirate Kiyohide did she mend her ways; tasked with helping her rule as the head of her clan, he wrote her a letter urging her to become a better person and mend her ways, before committing Kanshi, remonstration through suicide. His death greatly effected her, and not only did she resolve to become a better person but built the Seisyu-ji in Owari to honor him.

By 1551, Nobunaga had become the head of her clan, and by 1558 had managed to mostly unify her clan, save for some treacherous acts. In 1556 her elder brother Nobuhiro sought to plot against Nobunaga with the new lord of Mino, but once she discovered this she simply pardoned him for it. The following year, her younger brother Nobuyuki conspired with Shibata Katsuie and Hayashi Michikatsu and, if the legend is true, Nobunaga's own mother. Nobunaga learned of the treason and had Nobuyuki killed to ward off any of her remaining family from getting any bright ideas about treason against her.

1560

The Imagawa once again found themselves the enemy of the Oda, during their advance along the Tokaido coast to occupy Kyoto. With a number of 25,000 strong, the head of the Imagawa, Yoshimoto, went to conquer Kyoto while leaving his son to run things in his absence. With the Mikawa Samurai besieging the fort of Marune, the rest of the Imagawa host advanced on Washizu Castle, in Owari. The commanding officers of each fort could only send word to their lord Nobunaga that they were to fall, as a warning that the Imagawa were to come. While her retainers were unsure of how to deal with this threat, Nobunaga decided to take the most obvious solution to their problem; attack the advancing forces, rather than hold up and adopt more defensive tactics. They were out the very next morning, advancing on the Imagawa.

When they arrived at a fort near the Imagawa's camp in Dengakuhazama gorge, scouts reported that they were celebrating their victory, drinking and resting as Yoshimoto took in the sight of their conquered enemies at both Marune and Washizu. Deciding to play it smart, Nobunaga had her men set up flags on a hill nearby to give the appearance of their camp being there, when in reality she had taken her men elsewhere to sneak up on her unsuspecting enemies. Her victory there was owed to a bit of good luck, as a thunderstorm broke out and cause a torrential downpour of rain, allowing the Oda forces to sneak in even closer. The moment the rain broke out, the Oda forces launched a surprise attack, and it was so effective that Yoshimoto assumed a fight had broken out amongst his own men, noticing only as soon as the Oda Spearmen took his head that he had been duped.

It was a resounding success, removing the threat of the Imagawa (for now) and earning her national fame for her victory.

1561 - 1570

Come 1561, and Saito Yoshitatsu - who had resisted the Oda for some time - passes away, replaced by his son in leading the Saito. Taking advantage of his heir's weak character and poor reputation, Nobunaga bribes several of the more important Saito generals. The defenses of Mino were severely weakened, allowing the Oda to take Inabayama - the Saito's key headquarters - by 1567. Nobunaga moved her main headquarters there the following year, renaming it to Gifu castle; the name was taken from the castle of from which Wu Wang, ruler of the Chou, attempted to unify China in the 12th Century. The Emperor sent Nobunaga a congratulatory letter following this move, and from that point she took on the motto Tenka Fubu; a nation under one sword. The only opposition to this move came from the Asai clan, who believed Mino to partially belonged to them - Nobunaga quickly arranged peace and organized an alliance with the Asai by marrying off her sister, Oichi, to Nagamasa of the Asai clan.

Nobunaga's ambition was further stimulated by the arrival of Ashikaga Yoshiaki in 1567 to Gifu, seeking Nobunaga's help. Brother to the late Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru, he abandoned the priesthood in fear of his own life, as the clans who had seen fit to assassinate Yoshiteru - the Miyoshi and Matsunaga - named the 2 year old Ashikaga Yoshihide as the shogun's successor, essentially claiming Kyoto for themselves. He began to search for an army that could help him put Kyoto back in the hands of the Ashikaga, and approached the Takeda of Wakasa, the Uesugi of Echigo, and the Asakura of Echizen along the way, even believing the Asakura to be the answer, but ultimately settling on Nobunaga. She jumped at the chance, as she had made a similar offer to him in 1565, but he had been hesitant to accept - compared to the likes of the Uesagi and Asakura, she was still fairly new and didn't hold quite as great a reputation.

In 1568, Nobunaga's forces advanced and swept aside any and all resistance; the head of the Matsunaga clan promptly surrendered, while the Miyoshi simply withdrew to Settu, unable to contend with Nobunaga's forces. During the ninth month of their campaign they entered Kyoto, and then within three weeks Yoshiaki had been placed as the fifteenth Ashikaga shogun, with the Emperor's approval. Although their alliance had been beneficial, Nobunaga soured her relationship with him by refusing the position of deputy shogun, even when the Emperor himself requested she take it. She seemed to have no interest in titles, even going so far as to refuse the title of Shogun itself, in time. Despite this, knowing that Yoshiaki had only come so far with Nobunaga's help, she was seen as the real ruler of Kyoto from then on as he had nothing without her support.

1570 - 1573

Around 1570, Nobunaga's reputation had grown so much that many of the Daimyo outside of her influence began to fear her. She was someone unlike the contenders for rule who had come before her, because while her desire to rule all of Japan was nothing new, her position in Kyoto was. Many of the lords who could have contended with her, Mori Motonari, Takeda Shingen, Uesugi Kenshin, and Hojo Ujiyasu were all in unfavourable positions outside of the capital, and were unable to move too far due to their warring neighbours. This allowed Nobunaga to build considerable power by 1573, right in the very center of the land, and her reputation for cruelty (or in her eyes, efficiency) became more well known as she gained more power. She lost interest in negotiations and diplomacy, believing she could simply cut down any enemies who sought to oppose her.

Nobunaga's first real challenge arose in early 1570, when she ordered Yoshiaki to invite all of the local daimyo to the capital for a banquet, which in itself was only a means with which she could feel out any opposition. The leader of the Asakura clan, who Yoshiaki had almost considered asking for assistance before coming to Nobunaga prior, believed the banquet to be Nobunaga's idea and refused the invitation. Using it as proof of his disloyalty to Yoshiaki and the Emperor, she used this as a necessary pretext to invade Echizen and take the Asakura's land for herself. The Asakura were lackluster opposition and could hardly stop Nobunaga's advance, but total victory was suddenly taken from her grasp as the Asai clan suddenly betrayed her. The Asai and Asakura had been allied for a long time, and a single marriage did nothing to weaken that bond. She had no choice but to retreat back to Kyoto.

Of course, her retaliation to the Asai was swift and deadly. She mustered her forces again and marched on Odai castle, the Asai's stronghold. The Asai faced Nobunaga at the Anegawa River and, while the battle raged fiercely between both sides, Nobunaga found herself victorious, which only added to her fierce reputation. Even so, the Asai and Asakura were not so easily dissuaded, proving themselves to be equally determined. Later in 1570, they launched an attack against the Oda along the coast of Lake Biwa and defeated their forces near Otsu, slaying Nobunaga's brother Nobuharu. The warrior monks at Mt.Hiei also took up arms against the Oda alongside the Asai-Asakura alliance. In Kwatchi, the warrior-monks of the Ishiyama Honganji fortress, assisted the Miyoshi in their struggle against the Oda, bringing a considerable amount of firepower to their struggle against Nobunaga. In Ise, the Ikko-ikki of the Nagashima area also openly defied Nobunaga and caused her considerable difficulty, and things were not going well for the warlord.

Things had become frustrating for Nobunaga, as not only were the Asai and Asakura receiving considerable support from all around, but even the Shogun she placed in Kyoto had begun conspiring against her, dissatisfied with her heavy handed (cruel) methods. By 1571, much of Yoshiaski's administration was so regulated by Nobunaga's rule that the Shogun was no more than a puppet through which she ruled, another factor to Yoshiaki's grudge against her. He began sending out letters to to the Mori of Western Japan, and to the Takeda, Uesugi, and Hôjô of Eastern Japan in the hopes they would also assist in taking down the Oda.

It was during later 1571 that Nobunaga finally responded to the warrior monks of Mt.Hiei, in an act so violent that not only were her own generals shocked at the brutality, but it became one of the actions she was most remembered for. The Oda forces surrounded the mountain and were ordered to slowly work their way up the mountain, killing anyone they encountered. Once everyone had been killed, they then torched the mountain and the entire complex atop it was reduced to nothing but ash and thousands of corpses. Although she had been afforded some breathing room for this act, her attempt to repeat the brutality at Nagashima failed, due to the Takeda clan. In 1572, the Takeda clan advanced into Tokugawa's territory, and Nobunaga was forced to help, offering up a few thousand men as aide. It did little to help however, and the Takeda penetrated Mino and captured Imawura castle - embarrassing as it was, Nobunaga was furious.

However, by 1573 luck once again sided with the warlord - Takeda Shingen had died, and despite the attempts of the Takeda to hide this, Nobunaga intuited the truth and launched a counterattack with all of the confidence and cruelty she was known for. In May of that year, she surrounded Kyoto and caught Yoshiaki in the act of conspiring against her, forcing them to forge an uneasy truce neither party knew would last very long. But it lasted long enough for her to afford herself more room to maneuver. She moved to take down the Nagashima Ikko stronghold herself but was defeated despite her confidence, which convinced Yoshiaki to defy her once again. He barricaded himself in a fort by the Uji river, hoping to buy enough time for the Asai, Asakura, and Honganji to fall on Oda from behind. Unfortunately his position was not strong enough and she breached his defenses - bargaining for his life, she agreed to spare him and instead exiled him, removing the Ashikaga from Kyoto for good and making Nobunaga the defacto shogun until her death.

With no time wasted, she then immediately moved on to the Asai and Asakura clans to take care of their opposition as well. Threatening Odani castle, the Asakura were dispatched as a relief force to help defend the castle, but their forces were wiped out. What remained of the Asakura, including Yoshikage himself, fled the scene but were pursued fiercely by the Oda, allowing them to capture Ichijo-ga-tani along the way. Abandoning his castle, Yoshikage committed suicide in a temple in September. With the Asakura vanquished, she returned to Odani to threaten the Asai - Nagamasa first returned Oichi and their children to Nobunaga for their safety, then committed suicide as well in a more honourable display than the Asakura head had.

With the Asai and Asakura defeated and the Takeda unable to oppose her for the moment, Nobunaga decided to take revenge against the Ikko of Nagashima for opposing her. With the naval support of the Shima clan, she blockaded Nagashima and captured the forts surrounding it. By 1574 the Ikko had been forced to hide from the Oda within their main fortifications, effectively trapping them within their own home. Surrounded on all sides, Nobunaga ordered their complex set ablaze, and with nowhere to run as many as 20,000 men, women and children were killed in a single night. It was another act of cruelty she would be remembered for, although not as much as the burning of Mt.Hiei.

Within one year, Nobunaga's borders and military clout had grown substantially, enough to allow her to conduct three initiatives at once: the continued siege of the Honganji, a war of extermination aimed at the Ikko of Echizen and Kaga, and a showdown with the Takeda.

1575

By 1573, the heir to the Takeda clan had proved himself to be of great mettle and fierce spirited in continuing what his predecessor had started. The Takeda began to launch several attacks against Ieyasu, inevitably leading to Tokugawa requesting assistance from Nobunaga. Although hesitant, Tokugawa reaffirmed that the Tokugawa would simply join the Takeda in their siege against the Oda should they go without help, and so Nobunaga could hardly refuse, instead deciding to launch the full weight of her armies against this problem. With 30,000 men at her disposal, along with some of her greatest commanders, they bolstered the forces of Tokugawa with riflemen and wooden palisades. Outnumbered 3 to 1, and with their forces tired from weeks of battle, the Takeda were in no position to fight - but they did anyway. The Takeda bolstered their forces and rather foolishly charged the Oda-Tokugawa forces, and predictably the outcome was in the favour of Nobunaga and her allies. Although the head of the clan managed to escape, the Takeda had lost their position as a regional power. Nobunaga returned to Kyoto afterwards in preparation for her next battles.

1576 - 1580

Around this time, Nobunaga's ambition seemed more and more likely to succeed. Her initial enemy, the Honganji, were proving themselves formidable in fighting off her advances. She initially dispatched Harada Naomasa to conquer them, only for the invasion to be repelled and Harada to be executed. In response, she launched a personal attack against the Honganji which resulted in her being wounded. Seeing a full frontal assault as meaningless, she changed tactics and began to target the forces allied with them instead, crushing the Saiga monto of Kii and weakening the warrior monks of the Negoroji, yet the remaining support from the Mori and Uesagi clan proved incredibly formidable to their cause.

The Uesagi had initially been allied with Nobunaga but the clan head, Kenshin, had grown uneasy with their alliance which dissolved following Nagashino. Tension grew between the Oda and the Uesagi for two main reasons: the Oda's influence expanding into Hokuriku, which the Uesagi considered their territory, and her desire to make Azuchi Castle into her grandest stronghold of all, which would have denied Uesagi access to Horuriku which would have allowed the Oda to take it easily. When the Oda and Uesagi inevitably clashed, Kenshin proved himself a wily opponent, luring the Oda into a full frontal assault and annihilating the attacking Oda afterwards, forcing Nobunaga to retreat. Kenshin intended on pursuing the Oda in the coming Spring - when fortune smiled on Nobunaga yet again, and Kenshin passed away. The timing was so perfect that rumour spread of assassination organized by Nobunaga, but he simply died of natural causes. With his death, the Uesagi broke out into civil war, and Nobunaga's generals - Shibata Katsuie, Maeda Toshiie, and Sassa Narimasa - picked away at the holdings of the Uesagi until they reached the borders of Echigo.

The Mori clan, meanwhile, had opposed Nobunaga when it was headed by Motonari Mori, which didn't change following his death and succession by Terumoto Mori. In 1576 Nobunaga moved the naval forces of Kuki Yoshitaka to the waters off Settsu and proceeded with a naval blockade of the Honganji, assisted by the Atagi of Awaji Island. The Mori responded with their own naval forces, easily brushing aside the forces of Atagi and completely demolishing Nobunaga's attempts at blockading the land with her naval forces. In response, six great, heavily armed warships were developed and unleashed in 1578. Backed by their firepower, the naval forces launched a second attack and overwhelmed the Mori. Terumoto attempted to fight back a year following this, but failed once again, and realized that things were looking grim: Nobunaga's generals were advancing west, with Akechi Mitsuhide aiming to conquer Tamba and advance long the northern coast of the Chugoku. Totoyomi Hideyoshi meanwhile was moving to Harima in order to open the way to the Mori's hinterlands.

1580 opened with the Honganji completely isolated and now rapidly running low on supplies. Faced with Nobunaga's endless determination as well as starvation, the Honganji decided to aim for a peaceful solution. The court stepped in and requested that the forces opposing the Oda honorably surrender. In August the Honganji came to terms, and threw open their gates and surprisingly, despite her usual brutality, Nobunaga spared all of the surviving defenders. After over a decade of bloodshed, Nobunaga had subdued the last of the great ikko bastions and cleared the way for an eventual rise to national hegemony.

Amassing 100,000 of her men, supported by the Hojo and Tokugawa, she then launched an advance straight into Shinano and Kai in order to take down the Takeda once and for all. The men of the Takeda clan had lost faith in their lord, abandoning him - and seeing no chance of victory, the current head of the Takeda committed suicide. Having a particular loathing for the Takeda, it's said that Nobunaga gloated over his corpse following his death.

Death

Unfortunately, Nobunaga's demise was a result of her own behaviour. She was known for treating her retainers haughtily and with disrespect, and the most unfortunate of these happened to be Akechi Mitsuhide. Having been tasked with conquering Tamba, he managed to secure the surrender of Hatano Hideharu with no bloodshed. Bringing him before Nobunaga, she had Hideharu and his brother executed, and Hideharu's retainers accused Akechi of betrayal - in response, they had Akechi's mother murdered, which didn't sit well with him. While Hideyoshi was settled at Takamatsu castle, he sought reinforcements from Nobunaga as the main mori army was advancing upon his location. She sent her forces to bolster his own while she entertained nobles at Honnoji, but upon waking up the next morning found that Mitsuhide had raised an army to surround Honnoji and take her head, having gained the troops under the guise of going to Hideyoshi's side. With no other option, Nobunaga took her own life there and then, ending her ambition once and for all.